Amherst Regional High School students’ effort targets violence against women

Members of the Amherst Regional High School Women’s Rights Club are speaking out against violence against women. In the lead-up to the sixth-annual Massachusetts White Ribbon Day on March 7 — a male-led effort to end violence against women — the club is asking fellow students to pledge to fight gender-based violence. Members of the group will lead others in the pledge in the cafeteria during lunch periods and at half-time of the Hurricane’s basketball game Tuesday. They will also make a video about students taking the pledge for a contest run by the Northwestern district attorney’s office. This is just the latest effort of the club, which completed a drive to collect cellphones for victims of domestic violence last week. In the fall, they raised money for small loans for women through Kiva, a San Francisco organization that arranges so-called micro-loans. They also raised more than $1,000 selling fair trade beads for BeadforLife, an organization that supports women entrepreneurs in Africa.